1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to screen printings and more specifically to a device for cleaning a screen plate used in the screen printing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For printing electric circuit patterns on an insulating base board, a so-called "screen printing" has been hitherto used. The printing system employed in this printing comprises generally a screen plate (or mesh screen plate) which is put on an insulating base board to be printed, and a squeegee (viz., ink squeezing device) which runs on the screen plate while squeezing a given amount of viscous conductive ink onto the screen plate and pressing the screen plate against the insulating base board. With this, a desired circuit pattern of the conductive ink is printed on the surface of the insulating base board, which pattern coincides with a perforated print pattern defined by the screen plate. The base board thus printed is then removed from the screen plate and heated for fixing the printed circuit pattern. The screen plate is constructed of a stainless steel mesh or the like.
For improving the quality of the printed pattern on the base board, it is necessary to clean the screen plate at certain intervals. Hitherto, various cleaning devices have been proposed and put into practical use for such purpose. However, due to their inherent constructions, some of them fail to exhibit a satisfied cleaning effect and some are costly.